After a long absence I'm returning to T-Gauge. Maybe I missed it/them, but I'm looking for tutorial material on joining Flexitrack to standard track--I don't know if I should fix the Flexitrack track to my sheet of MDF in its final curve (using the very tiny screws and not so tight that they cause distortion, I know) before cutting it. As for soldering, the very thought of it alarms me Must the Flexitrack joiners be soldered? I'm scared of even snipping across the tracks (even though I have the recommended N-Gauge snips) because I'm confident I'll do it wrong. I don't suppose there's anyone living in Northern Ireland who could do it for me (it's the landscapes and buildings I'm happier about)?

Welcome back to the forum.....and no sweat over the wrong posting - it's now history.

There are a few way in which flexitrack can be joined to track sections......the one obstacle being the difference in height that the rail is above the surface on which the track sits. Here's a photo illustrating the difference:

P1010828_red.JPG (56.07 KiB) Viewed 1083 times

This is from a small test track I knocked up out of leftover bits, etc. Note the gap under the flexitrack that will need to be addressed. Either lay the flexitrack on a sheet of cork or similar, or disguise the slope that you get going from one to the other. Whatever way you choose, it has no bearing on the way you join the tracks....

Connecting without this special adapter is quite easy and can be done in two different ways....

Firstly, remove plastic from the end of the track section to expose sufficient of the two rails so that a flexitrack joiner can be slid on the end of the rails....and treat it as just another flexi to flexi joint. I've used that technique on The Bridge...as shown here:

P1010832_red.JPG (63.08 KiB) Viewed 1083 times

Secondly, cut a flexi track connector in half and trim it down so the single track joiner fits onto the end of the rail on the track section....and the flexitrack will then join. Like this:

P1010830_red.JPG (70.99 KiB) Viewed 1083 times

Note this photo shows use of a bit of track section that has the brass track joiner that I removed for the former method instead of half a joiner.

As far as cutting the track is concerned, I'd do a couple of practise cuts first so you get the hang of it. And there's no need to solder track joiners onto the track.....a push fit will suffice. The only soldering that can be done is to attach power to the underside of a track joiner, like I've illustrated in another thread in this section.

I think it was martink who claimed he was happier using 0.5 metre lengths than the 1 meter, particularly on the curves. I had already wrestled with and got into some awful twists with the metre lengths and when I have another shot I'll probably buy metre lengths but cut them in half.

Reith01 wrote:I think it was martink who claimed he was happier using 0.5 metre lengths than the 1 meter, particularly on the curves.

Not quite - I used 1m lengths, but only glued down half a metre at a time. The big advantage of using a full 1m length is that you don't need to put rail joiners on the curve, and that far, far outweighs any other concern. Even on the straights, the joins are comparatively large and visible, so longer lengths are preferable.